
Anaheim: A Tale of Two Cities
Anaheim, California sells itself to the world as the home of Disneyland, but in July 2012 that image cracked when police shot 25-year-old Manuel Diaz in the back of the head. Officers said he was reaching for a gun in his waistband; no weapon was ever found, and cell phone video shot by bystanders shows him lying unattended as officers hold the crowd back. The same footage captures his mother struck three times by bean bag rounds as she tries to reach him. Less than 24 hours later, another young Latino man is killed by Anaheim police, the seventh fatal police shooting in the city in under a year. Al Jazeera's Fault Lines crew films the protests that follow, riot police firing rubber bullets into crowds, and interviews residents who describe two Anaheims: the tourist city built around the park and the neighborhoods in its shadow living with checkpoints and shootings. The film asks whether what happened here is isolated or a preview of unrest elsewhere in the country.